Okay friends, lemme tell you about my latest email marketing adventure. It all started when I realized my brand emails were kinda… flat. Nobody was clicking, nobody seemed to care. Felt like shouting into a void, ya know? Then, I stumbled upon some tips supposedly used by that fancy makeup brand, Charlotte Tilbury. Figured, hey, if it works for sparkly eyeshadow, maybe it’ll work for me? Decided to give their PR email approach a shot.
Step 1: Facing The Sad Reality (My Old Emails)
First things first. I had to look at what I was actually sending. Opened my last few newsletters. Oof. Big blocks of text. Boring subject lines like “June Update”. Photos? Tiny. CTA? Buried like hidden treasure nobody could find. No wonder engagement was tanking. Realized I wasn’t even excited to open my own emails! How could I expect anyone else to be?
Step 2: Ripping Off The Pros (Well, Learning From Them)
Grabbed a cuppa strong coffee and dove into deconstructing those CT tips everyone talks about. Here’s what I actually tried messing with:
- Subject Line Shenanigans: Stopped writing “Newsletter #5”. Started playing with emoji (🙈 surprisingly!), asking actual questions (“Struggling with X?”), teasing exclusives (“Psst… inside scoop!”).
- Keeping it Ultra-Short: This was HARD. I like to ramble. But I forced myself. One main idea per email. Seriously. Cut paragraphs down to single sentences. Chunked info hard.
- Visuals On Visuals On Visuals: Ditched the itty-bitty product shots. Went BIG. Like, HUGE hero image right at the top. Made it immediately clear what the vibe was.
- Shouting the CTA (Politely): No more “Learn more… maybe… if you scroll down…”. Plonked a big, fat, BRIGHTLY colored button smack in the middle. And repeated it again at the bottom. Couldn’t miss it if you tried.
- Urgency Lite: Not really doing flash sales, but started using phrases like “Join the first wave” or “Get it before it trends“. Small shift.
- Personality Injection: Stopped the corporate robot voice. Started writing like I actually talk. “Guys, I messed up something funny…” or “Okay, obsessed with this new thing…”. Less stiff.
Step 3: The Messy “Putting It Together” Phase
Okay, planning is easy. Doing it? Chaos. Drafted one email about 15 times. Felt like my subject lines were either super cringe or still boring. Found myself adding “just one more” paragraph back in. Had to delete it. AGAIN. Choosing visuals took way longer than expected. Was this pic engaging? Or just pretty? Kept asking myself: “Would I open this?” Had to be honest.
Step 4: Hitting Send & The Agonizing Wait
Took a deep breath. Said a little prayer. Smashed the send button. Then… refreshed my analytics dashboard like a maniac. For the first hour? Crickets. Panic started creeping in. Was I wrong? Is CT just magic dust that doesn’t work for mortals?
Step 5: The Numbers Actually… Moved?
Then the trickle started. Open rate? Slowly climbed above my usual sad number. Not skyrocketing, but definitely a visible bump. And the clicks? The clicks on that big ol’ button? DOUBLE what I normally got. Like, seriously double. People were actually doing what I asked! I watched the line in the graph go up… and almost spilled my coffee.
My Takeaway? It Ain’t Magic, But It Works
Look, I’m not suddenly email marketing royalty. It’s still work. The CT stuff didn’t instantly make me viral. But it gave me a solid blueprint. Big visuals grab attention. Short and punchy keeps it. Clear CTAs get action. Personality makes people connect. Subject lines are the damn gatekeepers. Learning to write them better is gonna be my next hill to die on, I think. My awareness? Yeah, it’s getting better – more opens, more clicks mean more folks noticing my stuff. Results? Definitely moving upwards. Still tweaking, still testing, still refreshing that dashboard way too much. But hey, progress is progress!
#EmailMarketingHustle #LearningFromTheBigGuys #SmallWinsMatter #CharlotteTilburyMadeMeDoIt
